“I grew up in a very supportive, yet hectic family. My parents were business owners and extremely hard working. I grew up in an environment of always pushing yourself and sort of neglecting personal health. I grew up seeing my dad as an alcoholic and the downfalls that came with that. With my parents business, […]

“Weight has been a struggle my entire life. I was at my annual exam, and my doctor said we need to do something about your blood pressure. Hearing that was the tipping point for me. I knew what I had to do. In 2014, I ended up losing 85 pounds. I felt so good. I […]

“My mom passed away in a car accident when I was 2 years old. Then, back in 2003 my father got sick when I was 7 or 8. He had cancer in his kidneys, which also went to his spine. Eventually, it went away. He had about a 4 year span where he was eating […]

“I realized that I’ve spent my whole life trying to please everybody else and forgot about myself. I neglected myself and because of that, I’ve had breakdown moments. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I have high blood pressure and anxiety because I get worked up very easily, but when I’m exercising, all […]

“I have fibromyalgia. It took about 7 years to figure out what it was. It started when I was 30. I was tired all the time. I felt like one big bruise. You can’t see it, which makes it hard because nobody quite understands it. It was my first back surgery that triggered the fibromyalgia. […]

“I have 4 sisters. In June of 2010, my older sister was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. I went down to help her and be with her, but I had had my annual physical already scheduled for myself. So I went down and spent a day with her, and said I would come back […]

“I haven’t always treated myself the best. Shortly after I became a candidate for the school board, I had a wake up call. I had too much on my plate and I wasn’t taking care of my health. When I first entered that public sphere, I did not set up an adequate support system for […]

“I was born blind. I’ve always walked because I don’t drive. I walk with my dog. For us to work as a team, we have to practice. I’ve had 9 dogs for over 43 years. I’ve had labs, goldens, and lab/golden mixes. They’ve meant so much to me. So much so, that for my 65th […]

“In the Spring of 2013, I started getting really exhausted, so I thought I was getting the flu. I started getting up earlier to begin a workout regimen because I felt like I was getting so thick through my midsection. I was also in a play at the time. We were doing “Urinetown.” I played […]

“In February of 2012, I was seeing someone who broke up with me over text message. I took it extremely hard. I ended up taking it out on myself. I started partying all the time. I started drinking more. I even took up smoking for a period of time. It got to the point where […]